John Jansheski sells Star Island estate for $57M 

John Jansheski sold the Miami Beach estate he first listed for $90 million nearly two years ago.

The dental products mogul sold his waterfront estate at 27 Star Island Drive for $57 million, the Wall Street Journal reported. That’s $33 million less, or a 37 percent discount, from his initial asking price. 

Dina Goldentayer of Douglas Elliman had the listing, and Chad Carroll of Compass brought the buyer. Goldentayer declined to comment. Carroll declined to comment on the identity of his buyer.

Jansheski, who founded the Maryville, Tennessee-based dental goods company DenTek in 1985, bought the 0.9-acre Star Island estate for $10.8 million in 2011, records show. He moved the house designed by Walter De Garmo and built in 1924, to the south side of the property. He renovated that house and built a new waterfront mansion designed by South African firm SAOTA in 2019. Combined, the houses span 19,800 square feet, with seven bedrooms, 12 bathrooms and four half-bathrooms, records show. The estate’s amenities include a pool, dock, gym and sauna, according to the listing. 

Jansheski listed the property for $90 million in January of last year, shortly after billionaire Ken Griffin’s record $75 million purchase of a teardown on the island. Jansheski’s ex-wife, Alyssa Morgan, of the Inside Network, had the listing when it first hit the market.

After a series of price drops, the estate was taken off the market in March. Dina Goldentayer relisted it for $68 million in August.

“We’ve been going after it for an extended period of time,” Carroll told the Wall Street Journal. “Finally, we had a price we felt comfortable with, and patience worked to our advantage.” 

Carroll told The Real Deal it was a “significant sale” for Star Island, and noted that “the estate’s historic value was a big draw for the buyer.”  The buyer plans renovations, he confirmed. 

At $57 million, Jansheski’s Star Island estate is within the stratosphere of luxury real estate deemed by experts as trophy properties. South Florida is a hub for this market. Most recently, billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos dropped $68 million in July for an Indian Creek Village teardown. That same month in Palm Beach, local developer Mosie Miller sold an oceanfront estate to an unknown buyer for $68.1 million. In April, luxury car dealer Michael Cantanucci bought an oceanfront mansion for $170 million, a price record for Palm Beach and the priciest sale in Florida this year. 

Star Island has drawn trophy buyers like hedge funder Griffin, as well as luxury home purchases that fall below the trophy price threshold. Rapper and record executive Rick Ross bought a Star Island mansion for $35 million in August, adding an extra dose of celebrity cachet to the already high-profile island. 

— Kate Hinsche